Brooklyn event crystallizes 5G advances

This blog is by Volker Held, head of Innovation Marketing at Nokia Networks.
Twitter: @V_Held

Greetings from the second annual Brooklyn 5G Summit, organized by Nokia and New York University (NYU WIRELESS) which brought together over 200 leaders of mobile industry research and development from operators, regulators, partners, infrastructure vendors and academia to explore the future of 5G wireless technology. Watch this video for a snapshot of key highlights and participant insights from the event.

Commenting on the progress at Brooklyn 5G Summit, Hossein Moiin, CTO of Nokia, stated that “Only 12 months ago we were searching for questions, and now we have not only the questions but also some of the answers”. In fact, the event served to crystallize the advances that have been made regarding what 5G will deliver and what the technological cornerstones of 5G will be.

Prototypes to seed next-generation mobile networks

Highlights of the conference included three hardware demonstrations from Nokia and its partners showcasing the possibilities of massive MIMO and beamforming in 5G systems, which will enhance coverage and user experience across 4G and 5G spectrum bands. Nokia demonstrated its 5G Proof of Concept system using both 1 GHz and 2 GHz system bandwidth. The 1 GHz demo showed mobile tracking.

Nokia Networks and National Instruments demonstrated the fastest mobile network with a 10 Gbps over-the-air data rate at 73 GHz using 2 GHz bandwidth, 2×2 MIMO and 16 QAM modulation. With this capability, users will be able to download a full-length high-definition movie to their devices in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. Likewise, video chat will be so immersive that users will feel as though they can reach out and touch someone right through the screen.

Nokia’s second 5G Proof-of-Concept (PoC) system using 1 GHz bandwidth showed how to acquire and track a mobile user with a narrow beam at mmWave frequencies to provide a consistently high quality user experience.

Nokia and Mitsubishi demonstrated beamsteering using phased array at 3.5 GHz for an active antenna system to show 3D hybrid beamforming. The demonstration showcased four 8×8 panels with beamsteering and how high antenna gain is used in order to create a narrow radiation pattern that can be continually steered towards a specific user, leading to efficient frequency utilization*.

A 360° view of 5G

Here are some of the key insights from the topic experts: Hossein Moiin explained how 5G will improve the individual, society and economy through a focus on health impacts, connected homes, zero loss water distribution and zero road fatalities. James Truchard,CEO National Instruments, emphasized the need for fast prototyping capabilities as evidenced by their PoC system. Edward Tiedemann, EVP Qualcomm, made clear that multiple antennas were key to 2G/3G/4G system design and will be an essential component for 5G systems. Gerhard Fettweis, Professor at TU Dresden, talked about the tactile internet as an important application area of 5G requiring virtually zero latency. He also challenged the industry to look beyond 100 GHz to claim some of that spectrum for wireless. Seizo Onoe, CTO NTT DOCOMO, stated that the industry needs further alignment on 5G radio access technology and Tom Keathley, SVP AT&T, emphasized that 5G will control a highly heterogeneous environment in order to provide a consistent user experience. The general consensus was that the first commercial deployment of 5G will occur around 2020.

Discussions centered around channel modeling, the use of spectrum and spectrum sharing, as well as low-cost CMOS radios from 100 MHz to 100 GHz as the workhorses of the future. Safety, exposure assessment, and dosimetry from cellular to mmWave bands were also addressed and Chris Collins, NYU School of Medicine, shared his critical insight for the medical industry that mmWave radiation is not intrinsically more dangerous than current mobile radiation and that heating is still the only concern.

As a venue for cross-functional dialog, the Summit proved extremely beneficial and will ultimately serve to accelerate 5G development.

* This was achieved with an Mitsubishi Electric 3.5 GHz 2D Active Antenna connected to a Nokia Flexi Base station as transmitter.

About the author

Volker Held

At Nokia, Volker is focused on combining the technology and business side of innovation. He heads Nokia’s 5G market development activities for the company, helping to create the future of telecommunications. He was also one of the founders of Nokia FutureWorks and brought Technology Vision 2020 to life.